Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

2007 No. 624

October 11, 2007

The regular monthly meeting of the Faculty Senate was called to order by President Lynda Ciuffetti on October 11, 2007 at 3:00 PM in the LaSells Stewart Center. President Ciuffetti asked for a moment of silence in memory of Dr. George Moore who recently lost his life in an automobile accident.

SPECIAL REPORTS

State of the University Address
President Ed Ray presented his State of the University Address, titled “Walking the Talk;” the entire speech is online.

2006-07 Recap – Ray began by outlining accomplishments achieved during the past year:

Provided compelling arguments for increased state funding for higher education in Oregon.

Approved a new set of Promotion and Tenure Guidelines.

Worked with alumni and friends on fundraising, and redirected $10 million in continuing funding to support key academic programs and offer more competitive compensation for faculty and staff.

Faculty generated $206 million in research grants and contract awards.

Ray outlined progress related to areas he identified in 2003 as needing to be addressed to realize aspirations for OSU:

Complete the Strategic Plan - adopted in February 2004 and set a number of goals to be achieved by 2008; Provost Randhawa will report later this month on the progress to date in implementing the plan. Next year the total progress must be assessed, and new targets for the following five years must be identified.

Fundraising campaign – the public phase will be launched on October 26, and a total well in excess of the $300 million dollar target for the quiet phase will be announced; 80% of the funds generated will benefit academic programs and 20% will benefit intercollegiate athletic activities.

Achieve excellence in diversity

Manage resources as intelligently and efficiently as possible - in keeping with the strategic plan, OSU was able to implement faculty salary raises despite insufficient funding from the legislature and, in doing so, cut more heavily from business and academic support services than from academic programs. He echoed earlier sentiments that the burden of advancing the university cannot be placed on the backs of students. He noted the need to increase the competitiveness of research grants and contracts; expand business, government and inter-institutional partnerships to grow technology transfer and licensing revenues; and rally friends and alumni to provide funding for scholarships, fellowships, chaired faculty positions, academic program support, equipment, and facilities.

Prioritizing Investments – While discussing priority investments, Ray noted that the spirit of shared governance will not be compromised for the sake of expediency. He felt it was critical that the Faculty Senate and student government leaders fully participate in the deliberations regarding priority areas for investment. The first challenge this year will be to identify priority investments and, during this process, the focus must be on academic program excellence and the impact of programs in the five thematic areas. Ray stated that the provost will work with colleagues to identify a prioritized list of activities for the university that will be considered for investment. He noted that, since there are not sufficient resources to make continuing significant investments in key areas, OSU will need to rely heavily on donors, research grants and contracts, and technology transfer and licensing revenues, as well as modest gains in state funding. Ray indicated that his hope is that investment priorities will be identified over the next six months and be considered for next year’s budget.

Ray stated that the OSU community has suffered from the decline in state funding and rising costs. He acknowledged that OSU faculty “have shown great inventiveness in creating and nurturing extraordinary programs” and that many faculty have made significant personal sacrifices “because of their passion for learning, scholarship and engagement at OSU. Ray thanked the faculty and called them ‘heroes.’ He indicated that qualities such as “a spirit of inventiveness, a can do attitude, and a deep regard for collaboration” at OSU far surpasses any university with which he is familiar.

Reviewing Business Practices - To meet the second challenge of finding the resources to fund priority investments and sustain the spirit of inventiveness and collaboration, Ray announced that the manner in which university business activities are managed will be re-examined. The goal will be to identify $5-10 million in continuing funding for priority academic investments that otherwise would not be funded. He believes that this will also provide an opportunity to strengthen the university’s culture of service and ensure that business practices are successful and cost effective. He acknowledged that the goal may be met with skepticism, but believed that it was achievable.

Since much of the business activities are distributed and duplicated among colleges, departments, and divisions, there is a need to evaluate centralizing business services or creating regional service centers that support multiple units. He encouraged the university to “ignore traditional business unit boundaries” to achieve the goal. Ray stated that a process to review the business practices and redirect resources will be developed by Provost Randhawa and Vice President McCambridge, in consultation with others; he emphasized that faculty, staff, and students must participate fully in the deliberations. Ray expects implementation of a pilot project to occur during this academic year, and the university-wide effort should be completed within three years.

The third challenge will be to redirect resources to support the strategic plan, not to reduce the operating budget. Since personnel costs account for about 80% of operating costs, some business activities and personnel will move from departments/colleges to central/regional business centers to increase efficiency. Some positions may also move from business activities to academic positions and academic support positions in support of the educational mission. Ray stated that training opportunities for the staff is imperative. He also noted that some positions may be eliminated, but felt that phasing in the new business practices over a three-year period should help to minimize the impact on personnel since OSU has an annual turnover of at least 300 faculty and staff positions.

Assessing the Baccalaureate Core -
Ray felt strongly that there must be a solid arts and sciences core for every university graduate in Oregon and made the following observations:

The core curriculum should contain more studies of the life sciences and earth system sciences.

The core should offer a wealth of courses that prepare all graduates to be culturally competent.

Finally, a contemporary core curriculum needs to be focused on the international aspects of the arts and sciences.

He felt that the written, analytical and other skill objectives of the current baccalaureate core seem excellent, but was concerned with the scope of studies experienced by our graduates. Ray asked the Senate to lead a broad-based discussion across the university regarding the content of the baccalaureate core, and the explicit, documentable learning outcomes that students should achieve. He stated that the baccalaureate core must remain vibrant, contemporary and fully prepare OSU graduates to be our most important contribution to the future.

Senator Selker, Agricultural Sciences, questioned why Ray felt there would be large efficiencies in business centers. Ray responded that educational institutions have a business side and there is a need to determine whether there are more effective and creative ways to identify savings and redirect funds to priority academic investments, and determine if the cost and inconvenience is justified.

In response to Past President Boggess questioning how much the university spends on business services, Associate Vice President Nancy Heiligman indicated that approximately $40 million is expended from the E&G budget on academic support.

Senator Sorte, Health and Human Services, noted that IFS is looking at common Baccalaureate Core attributes across the system. Ray responded that it was felt that the common elements across the state should be identified, but OSU should also look at the Core internally.

Capital Campaign Update
Shawn Scoville, OSU Foundation Senior Vice President for Development and Campaign Director, invited all to participate in the Capital Campaign Kickoff on October 26 in the LaSells Stewart Center. The kickoff will include a multimedia celebration that will showcase and celebrate achievements of students and faculty and a public announcement of the campaign goals and progress.

A report from OSBHE member Tony Van Vliet who indicated that OUS was successful in the legislature because:

Higher education was better organized this year.

Individuals established relationships with legislators.

Business leaders promoted education as a business driver.

To sustain higher education funding, he felt that it was necessary to continue the coordinated effort, engage the public, emphasize the common good, and bring tuition down to affordable levels.

Not many weird things occurred on campuses.

A recap of what’s happening at other OUS institutions:

SOU – university-wide reorganization

EOU – survival mode due to signification enrollment problems, in part, as a result of Idaho and Eastern Washington offering in-state tuition; and there is an idea floating the EOU could become a branch campus of OSU

WOU – redefined vision; new tuition package guarantees tuition for four years; and faculty have a new contract

OIT – in flux due to enrollment issues and death of their president

PSU – searching for a new president

UO – in the midst of $200 million campaign, and they are considering privatization

Doescher was asked by Jock Mills, Director of Government Relations, to address elections issues: October 16 is the last day to register for the November 6 election; urged faculty to allow presentations during class encouraging students to vote; and, since Oregon has the double-majority rule, all voters need to vote (a non-vote is considered a no vote).

Senator Roberts, Liberal Arts, questioned whether there would be higher ed issues during the special session. Jock Mills responded that there are two possibilities: allowing institutions to retain interest from tuition and the issue of arming institutional security personnel.

ACTION ITEM

Motion 07-624-01 to approve the June minutes as distributed passed by voice vote with no dissenting votes.

DIALOG WITH THE PROVOST

Provost Randhawa’s report included the following:

He will discuss reorganization initiatives at the November Faculty
Senate meeting.

Budget – Currently in the process of finalizing the budget, which
will soon be posted on the web. There is an 8.6%
increase in Educational and General (E&G) funds; funding for undergraduate
resident students increased by 8%; and the funding for engineering about
doubled from the last biennium with approximately $5 million more. Additional
funding was allotted for areas such as the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, Institute
for Natural Resources, and the new climate center. Resident tuition was
capped at 3.4% and non-resident and graduate tuition increased about 3%
to be more competitive. OSU-Cascades received the biggest funding increase of about 23%,
or $5.9 million, for the biennium. Statewide public services requested $15 million, but only received
$5 million.

Enrollment – Enrollment appears to be on track to meet projected
cell funding targets which would result in about 400 more students than fall
2006. First time students have increased by about 200, and about 120 of those are non-resident students.

Salaries – The budget is sufficient to cover up to 4% for merit-based
salary increases effective January 2008; the budget is not sufficient
to address salary compression or gender equity issues. The intent is
to have the same compensation package in the second year of the biennium.

Deferred Maintenance – The need has increased from $4 million
last year to $8.5 million this year, and the University Space Committee
is working to set priorities. It is anticipated that progress will be
made in safety upgrades, classroom renovation, and core research facilities.

A faculty group from Liberal Arts and Science has been formed
to determine advantages and disadvantages of a possible merger between the two colleges;
Becky Warner and Henri Jansen are co-chairs; and their report is due in early
December.

Joe Hendricks is stepping down as dean of the University Honors
College. It is expected that a new dean will be named by December 31.

The Graduate School review is scheduled for October and will be chaired by Jeff McCubbin. Graduate admissions functions are in the process of being moved from Admissions to the Graduate School.

DIALOG WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT

President Ciuffetti explained that, since Mike Quinn accepted a position at Seattle University as Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, she began her term as president four months early. Through the end of December, Bill Boggess is the acting president-elect and Jeff Hale is the acting past president.